General

David Stern Is For the People

Aug 19, 2009, 8:16 PM UTC

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â†µAnyone who thinks Stern has lost a step, gotten clumsy aboutâ†µrigging the league or sold out to Republicans and the Chinese justâ†µdoesn’t get it. Well, they sort of get it. He makes a point of tryingâ†µto reach every plausible demographic, even the ones that requireâ†µsomething of a stretch, and even when that means seemingly ignoringâ†µthe league’s base.â†µ
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At the same time, he’s never seemed interested in just banking theâ†µfuture on China or small red state markets like OKC. Nor is he dumbâ†µenough to not have recentlyâ†µtold Seattle they could have a team some time soon. The dressâ†µcode and zero tolerance? Those have now been transformed by time intoâ†µfar less draconian policies. And now, here we get the very stagedâ†µappearance of Stern in an African-American barbershop, communing withâ†µthe fans that he could easily afford to take for granted, and neverâ†µattempting to moralize, invalidate their opinions or otherwiseâ†µdismiss them. He even jokes about Finals conspiracies.â†µ
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â†µStern isn’t just the consummate moderate. He actually has a lot inâ†µcommon with a certain (currently embattled) American political force,â†µwho speaks to all while subtly tailoring his message toward hisâ†µaudience. Obama may like to talk about his play on the court, but inâ†µfact, his greatest relevance toward the game might be as a model forâ†µhow to sell it around the world.
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